


New Horizons

by Tarlan



Category: Adventure Inc.
Genre: Community: smallfandomfest, Established Relationship, M/M, Reconciliation, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-04
Updated: 2011-01-04
Packaged: 2017-10-14 09:59:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/148052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All alone once more, Judson sets out for new horizons and finds what he thought was lost forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Horizons

**Author's Note:**

> Follows on from the final episode, Trapped. Written for smallfandomfest on livejournal.com -- FEST08

After leaving the chateau, the team made their way back down to the dock where the Vast Explorer was moored and waiting for them but Judson could tell by the look in Gabe's eyes that he had come to the end of the road. He had joined Judson because he wanted to explore the world and have adventures but, lately, the danger had far outweighed any of the pleasure to be found in seeking lost treasures.

Mac gave Judson a sympathetic look behind Gabe's back as Judson knew that, this time, they would not be able to persuade Gabe to stay. Sure enough, once they were on board, Gabe sighed before taking a deep breath.

"You know I've loved it here...for the most part...and I love you guys but I need to move on. I can still make the Fall semester at Harvard. My father has enough connections to get me the classes I want. Last time we spoke he said if I called he'd send me a plane ticket. I just don't want you both to think--"

"We don't," Judson smiled.

He knew Gabe had planned to return to college eventually, to start work on his doctorate. Judson had been in the same position once but had left the formal qualifications to others and decided to pursue this dream instead. He had few regrets, but Gabe was not him. Gabe would regret it deeply when he looked back in ten or fifteen years. Judson held out his hand and pulled Gabe into a hug when Gabe reached for the handshake.

"You'll always be welcome here...any time."

Gabe pulled back, cheeks colored in embarrassment, and Judson watched as Mac hugged him too. She pulled back and thumped him hard on the arm. "Come on, I'll help you pack."

Gabe insisted on taking a cab to the airport so they said their final farewell on the dock, watching sadly as the cab pulled away. Once it had turned out of sight, Judson looked to Mac and gave a gentle smile. He decided not to tempt fate with some throwaway comment of it being just the two of them now, especially as he had a feeling that Mac felt a need to move on too. Now that the Icarus disk--listing all the secret agents including her--had been destroyed, she had a chance to make another life for herself, though Judson knew it would always be nomadic like his. Perhaps they might have made a life together but loving and being in love were two different affairs. He loved her with all his heart...as a friend and occasional lover. He would put his life on the line for her. Hell, he would die for her, but he could never love her with all the unconditional passion in his heart and mind. Only one person had ever filled him that void within him. She knew that, and they both knew that her love for him was of the same quality as his for her. She needed the chance to find that special someone who would complete her, and that might never happen if she remained here with him.

"Are we heading back to Beau Harbor?"

"Yeah."

"I'm planning on leaving the ship there, Judson. But I think you already knew."

He nodded. "I can set you down in Bermuda, if you prefer. I can handle the Vast Explorer the rest of the way alone."

She grinned, and Judson's smile broadened to a grin too. She had good friends there who would be more than willing to set her up in whatever new life she chose.

The journey to Bermuda proved uneventful and Judson caught Mac on the radio once a day making plans for landfall, both personal and on behalf of the Vast Explorer. After Bermuda he would have to go back to doing all the maritime work, including getting landing permits, mooring details. He had happily left all that to Mac and mostly Gabe over the past year.

When the ship docked in Bermuda, Mac wasted no time, not wanting to prolong the agony of parting any more than necessary. They hugged tight and he kissed her sweetly before she pulled away. His last sight of her before she stepped into the expensive car waiting for her was her cheeky smirk. He laughed aloud, sighing deeply once he was truly alone. Shrugging back his shoulders, he carried on walking towards the harbor master's office to pay his mooring fees and hitch a ride into town. He had supplies to pick up before he started the last leg of his journey back to the Vast Explorer's home port in South Carolina.

****

Two days out from Bermuda:

He wasn't certain what made him change course soon after leaving Bermuda but Judson had long ago learned to trust his instincts, so he had set sail for Nassau in the Bahamas. He had sailed across the infamous Bermuda Triangle on numerous occasions and despite the old tales of the supernatural, he had never seen anything strange until today. The wind had died suddenly and the fog had descended out of nowhere, surrounding the ship in a matter of minutes. The lack of wind didn't bother him as he still had plenty of diesel for the engine, certainly enough to last him to Beau Harbor. The problem was he had no idea which way to point her. The compass was spinning wildly and the fog made it impossible to simply navigate by the sun or stars; the radio gave him nothing but static on all channels, including the emergency channel. He had two choices. He could pick a direction or he could let the ship drift with the Atlantic current. Either way he should eventually clear the fog or it would lift on its own, and could make a course correction at that time. With no reason to rush anywhere, he decided to conserve the fuel until he knew how far he had drifted off course.

The silence was eerie, and if it hadn't settled like a smothering blanket over the ship then he might never have heard the soft clank and creak coming from down below. His first thought was that something had come loose from its ties so he headed down past the crew quarters and living area and into the cargo hold. The bulb blew when he switched on the lights and Judson cursed under his breath and grabbed the flashlight left at hand for such emergencies; it wouldn't be the first time something had shorted on the ship. The Vast Explorer was in need of a full overhaul but that cost more money than he had banked right now. His finder's fee rarely covered more than the cost of basic maintenance and supplies but he'd never gone into this business looking for profit.

Panning the flashlight around the hold, Judson caught a flash of something and cursed again. He had a stowaway on board, and he was surprised that he hadn't sensed the presence earlier. Whoever it was had probably sneaked on board while he was docked in Bermuda because Mac would have sensed the presence on the longer trip across the Atlantic from the Mediterranean.

"Come on out! I'm not going to hurt you."

His voice echoed in the silence and he instantly picked up the soft scuff of feet, aiming the flashlight across to where a man was slowly pushing to his feet. The man flinched as the light his face, probably from having been down here in the dark since Bermuda.

"Stefan?"

"Hey, Judson."

Memories assailed Judson from a year back, when Stefan's body had disappeared from the Mayan temple. At the time he thought the Governor's men had taken Stefan's body away but the Governor had denied it. In the end, Judson had no choice but to accept that he wasn't going to be giving Stefan a decent burial and he had moved on. Seeing him now made Judson's heart ache in his chest, made it hard to draw in a breath. He hadn't realized until the day Stefan walked away just how much the other man meant to him, but there had always been a glimmer of hope for reconciliation until that fateful day in the Mayan temple.

"I thought you were dead."

Stefan laughed without humor, looking uncomfortable. "I was...and then I wasn't." He looked towards the solid sides of the ship as if he could see beyond the hull to the sea beyond. "Are we becalmed?"

Judson took a deep breath to calm his erratic breathing and he sighed raggedly, lowering the flashlight so it was no longer on Stefan's face. "Yeah." He sighed again. "Come on. No point in standing down here in the dark."

He turned away unafraid. Stefan could have killed him easily the last time they met but he hadn't pulled the trigger, and if he had wanted Judson dead--or if he had simply wanted the ship--then he could have attacked him at any time over the past two days. He could have crept into Judson's quarters in the middle of the night and smothered him in his sleep. Judson could hear Stefan's footsteps several feet behind, following him up the stairs to the living quarters above. He moved straight to the galley and poured two mugs of coffee, both black and sugarless. It was one of the things they'd had in common. It was easy to understand why he had not felt Stefan's presence on board. There was a time when he and Stefan had lived here together, sharing the same quarters and the same bed. Subconsciously, he must have registered and discarded Stefan's presence as normal. They had been partners for a long time before becoming lovers--traveling together, hunting for lost treasure and looking for old shipwrecks. Stefan had always lacked Judson's sixth sense of where to find things, and that envy had eventually torn them apart. It had eventually led to Stefan's death.

Dead. He thought he had mourned Stefan and moved on but seeing him again in the light of the galley brought back so many memories spent in this very room, of good times as well as bad. Frustration and confusion had colored his feelings for Stefan when they last met, that and the momentary fear of dying at Stefan's hand when he thought Stefan no longer felt anything for him, not even a spark of their old friendship let alone love. But now all he felt was a strange mixture of sadness and elation.

He kept his eyes lowered from Stefan as he sipped as his coffee, letting the caffeine flood through his system but noticed when Stefan glanced towards the stairs leading up to the deck. Eventually he gave in to curiosity and Judson followed him to the railing where he saw Stefan shiver as he tried to see deeper into the thick fog that seemed to start at the railing like an ethereal wall of gray. It wasn't a natural fog.

"Where are we?" Stefan asked.

"Somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle. Compass is spinning so I don't know which way's north."

"So we're lost."

"Only till the fog lifts." Judson tried to offer a reassuring smile. He decided to change the subject rather than dwell of the eeriness of the fog surrounding the ship. "Unless you've been raiding my galley, I bet you haven't had a decent meal since Bermuda."

Stefan looked at him with sadness in his dark eyes. It was obvious that Stefan had never intended to reveal his presence, seeking only a free ride out of Bermuda and taking advantage of seeing the Vast Explorer in port. After all, he knew all the hiding places on board.

It was so easy to slip back into old routines even though it had been almost two years since Stefan last stepped on board the ship. They moved around each other with ease, settling into various galley duties until a hot meal was on the table before them along with fresh coffee. It was only then that the tension filled the air once more and they picked at the food.

"What happened?" Judson asked, not needing to specify any further as Stefan knew he wanted to know about the Mayan Temple, and how Stefan could be dead one moment and alive in the next.

"I..." He took a deep breath. "I remember you being with me at the end. I remember feeling...surprised that you didn't hate me for what I'd done. I remember feeling...regret."

Judson nodded. He had his own list of regrets where Stefan was concerned. "And then?"

"I opened my eyes and I was in another chamber, deeper than the one with the altar. That green rock was glowing all around, lighting up the walls, and there were two people there. A young man and woman in Mayan clothing. I think they were ghosts, and you know I never believed in that shit before."

Judson knew it had to be the spirits of the young lovers who had taken over their modern-day counterparts. After a thousand years, E'Chala had been reunited with her one true love. In the process, the Governor's daughter Ynez had shown her father the meaning of true love and had been reunited with her love, Theo. Judson still had the jade ring. No one had asked for it back after the events of that day and he couldn't bear to let it go, seeing it as his last link to Stefan.

"Dying has a way of clarifying your thoughts, and I've had a lot of time to think over this past year. I realized how petty I'd been." Stefan raised his eyes to lock onto Judson's. "I threw everything away over a fit of jealousy...but you can't help being a lucky son of a bitch any more than you can stop breathing."

"Lucky?" Judson snorted softly. On lonely nights after Stefan's death, when the memories filled him with such sorrow, Judson had promised that if he ever had a second chance at a love that deep then he would not hold back. He never expected to get that second chance with Stefan. "I lost you, and there hasn't been a day when I haven't seen something or heard something...and wanted to share it with you. I've been lost at sea since the day you walked away."

"You had Mac--"

"She's not you." Judson reached across the table and threaded his fingers with Stefan's. "It's never too late to start again."

Stefan's eyes dropped to their entwined fingers. He tightened his grasp and that was all the answer Judson needed. Reaching out with his other hand, he cupped Stefan's chin, leaned in and kissed him softly before drawing back.

"Stefan?"

Stefan nodded and smiled, meeting him halfway in a second kiss. At that exact moment, a ray of light flared through the porthole and lit up the room with a strange, greenish tinge. They pulled back in surprise, locking gazes for a moment before heading back out onto the deck. Shafts of sunlight were piercing the fog, lifting the gloom and as they watched the fog faded to a whisper of gray before disappearing completely, leaving them on a calm sea with an azure blue, cloudless sky above. On the distant horizon, Judson could see the outline of a coastline and he knew, instinctively, that it was the Bahamas. His course had held true despite the spinning compass and drifting currents but Judson had seen too many strange things to discard this unnatural phenomena as a trick of light or of the weather.

He had recognized the green haze from the Mayan temple, and it could be no coincidence that it had chosen to appear at the exact moment that Stefan gave them both a second chance. Wrapping his arm around Stefan, he grinned as Stefan placed his arm around his waist in turn. It was a big world, full of mysteries and hidden treasure, and he planned to spend the rest of his life traveling to all those new horizons with Stefan.

As the arm tightened around him, Judson instinctively knew that Stefan wanted that too.

END


End file.
